Into The Vault: Suboxone - A Walk Through The Candy Store

Into The Vault: Suboxone – A Walk Through The Candy Store

I have created a new segment for my blog and it’s called “Into The Vault.” “Into The Vault” will feature articles and blogs that are related to the medical field, especially on the pharmaceutical end. I work as a pharmacy technician and overall, at this point in my life, I’m satisfied with my job. Working in a pharmacy has allowed me to learn a lot about various kinds medications and how they work. Most importantly, I come into work and try my best to ensure that our patients get the best help they need. Unfortunately, not every person who comes into our store is seeking for the best help and that’s where we try our best to prevent those problems from getting worse. Needless to say, I’m sure for pharmacies and doctors in general, it doesn’t always work. This is why I felt a need to create this segment and alert people of certain medical concerns that are often overlooked or ignored. Without any further delay, here’s the first segment of “Into The Vault.”



Suboxone – A Walk Through The Candy Store

It was about three months into my job that I typed my first Suboxone (Buprenorphine/Naloxone) prescription. I verify the prescription with the pharmacist and make sure we have the medication in stock I tell the kid it’ll be ready in 25 minutes. Yes, a kid. He must have been 22 or 23, but all of the drug abuse that he did in the past few years sucked a lot of life out of him. You can see it in his glassy eyes and you want to feel bad for him because he’ll probably never amount to anything now. The funny part about is that whenever they get their medication, they walk away smiling like a kid in a candy store.

I’ve been working in the pharmacy for nearly two years and I have seen many people come into the pharmacy with a prescription for this medication. The faces of Suboxone users and their exuberant appreciation of me when I give them their meds don’t bother me anymore. Lately, it’s the drug itself and the doctors, who believe it to be a cure all for opioid dependency that has been bugging me lately.

Suboxone, or Subutex, which doesn’t contain Naloxone, are both used to “treat” patients, who have suffered from an opiate addiction, such as heroin or Oxycodone. According to the Controlled Substance Act, Buprenorphine is classified as a Schedule III Narcotic and the FDA has monitored it to a point where only certain doctors are licensed to write prescriptions for it. Suboxone is mainly prescribed to go hand in hand with opioid dependent therapy. Now that patients can go get it at their local pharmacy, Suboxone is the incentive for going to the opioid dependent therapy.

Even though I think the leash over Suboxone is tighter than Vicodin or Percocet, which is a little ironic, there are still many problems with it. The drug supposedly weans opiate addiction, which is a good thing, but it doesn’t solve the problem. Now they’ll be addicted to Suboxone instead of Percocet. What some of these doctors don’t seem to realize is that they removed one problem and put another problem in its place. This is where I am having a lot of problems because taking a big issue and masking it with a smaller issue is not the way to stop a drug addiction.

Suboxone and Methadone, a much stronger opioid dependent, can be just as dangerous as having an opiate addiction. I have seen that for myself and to me that’s sweeping the problem under the carpet. I can’t say a good thing about Suboxone and hope that one day, someone will find a way to permanently get rid of opioid dependence without any need of medication. Maybe everyone will have enough brains to stay away from them at that time. However, I’m not going to keep my hopes up. Until then I’ll stare at the glassy eyes of life’s disappointments and watch them trade “Hershey’s” for “M & M’s.”

I want to reiterate that prescription drug abuse is a very serious issue and should be handled like any other drug abuse problem. If you know of anyone that is abusing Suboxone, Methadone or any other prescription drugs please make someone aware of that problem. The number of prescription drugs abuse cases grows larger every year and you have the power to slow it down. It’s painful to watch a friend, a relative, or even stranger have their whole lives fall apart because of an addiction, but you’ll feel relieved knowing that you played your part and made the right call.

This has been Ian Feldman speaking words of wisdom